THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND A true Church PROVED In a Disputation held by JOHN BASTWICK Doctor in Physick AGAINST Mr. WALTER MONTAGUE in the TOWER Buy the truth and sell it not also wisdom instruction and understanding Prov. 23. v. 23. Where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the Law happy is he Prov. 29. v. 16. Published by Authority LONDON Printed for A. Crooke and I. Rothwell and are to be sold at their shops in Pauls Church-yard 1645. To the Reader Christian Reader IF thou desire to know the occasion of the ensuing discourse betweene mee and Master Montague of whom I may say this although he be an enemy that hee is both generosus doctus adversarius thou shalt not onely be fully satisfied of the necessity of the publishing of it but mayst also finde the true Church by the essentiall and undeceivable notes of the same the which wheresoever they appeare doe abundantly prove and delucidate it to be a true Church Now when they are to be found in the Church of England as in all the reformed Churches it may truely be concluded of them all that they are true Churches from the which there is no just ground and cause of separation As for the Church of England I may ever affirme this as I have in the following Treatise evinced that since the Apostles times the Gospell and the saving truths thereof have never been more purely preached and more chearfully received imbraced and believed and the Sacraments more duely administred and the Name of God more truly invocated and called upon then now in the Church of England that all those that live in it owe their conversion to the Ministery of the same so that with all good reason wee may infer that that Church that teacheth the knowledge of the onely true God and whom hee hath sent Jesus Christ John 17. and is able to build them up in their most holy faith is a true Church and where salvation may be found And therefore not onely those of the Church of Rome that do calumniate her and all the reformed Churches for hereticall are in a great errour and blame-worthy but more especially those that had the worke of regeneration wrought in their hearts by her ministery and owe their conversion to her and yet doe asperse her with odious tearmes absolutely denying her to be a true Church all such I say are likewise to be reproved and have for this their temerity a great deale to answer for before God and all good men for by these their expressions they doe not onely proclaime their owne unthankefulnesse unto Almighty God but their undutifulnesse and ingratitude unto their mother and their uncharitablenesse towards their brethren whom they account of as a company of Insidels denying communion with them in holy things though every way as good and as holy as themselves by all which their proceedings they doe not onely cast filth in all their faces and expose themselves to the ludibree of the world and bring an odium upon the whole Church but are a cause of division and schisme in the seamlesse garment of Christ and give a great scandall to the enemies of the Gospell and to all such as love the truth in sincerity without faction contrary to the Apostles rule who exhorts all Christians to take heed that they give no offence to the Jew nor to the Gentile nor to the Church of God But that all men may see I charge none falsly nor wrong them not in any thing I shall here recite some expressions of their principall leaders and teachers for to enumerate them all would be an endlesse worke as I had them from their owne mouthes in the presence of others and as I finde them in their printed bookes By word of mouth they say That the Church of England is an arrant Whore and Strumpet and that she that was once a Whore can never be presented unto Christ as a chaste Spouse then the which what could be more contumeliosly disgracefully and untruly spoken especially when it is uttered by such as had the worke of grace and conversion wrought in their hearts by the ministery of the Church if they have any grace or were ever truely converted though now they have disobediently deserted and forsaken her In print thus they declare themselves concerning the Church of England and all believers and their fellow brethren in it That the Church of England is a true whorish mother and that they that are of her are base begotten and bastardly children and that she neither is nor never was truely married joyned or united unto Jesus Christ in that espousall band which his true Churches are and ought to be but is one of Antichrists Nationall whorish Churches and Cities spoken of Revel 16.19 c. That the Church of England is false and Antichristian and as shee is a false and Antichristian Church shee can never make true Officers and Ministers of Jesus Christ and absolutely deny that conversion and confirmation and building up in the waies of God are wrought by the Ministery of the Church of England for how say they can they build them up in that which they themselves are ignorant of and enemies unto For as Jannes and Jambres with stood Moses so doe these men also resist the truth being men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth c. This is their Dialect and further they assert That as they have taken paines by the Word of God and demonstrable arguments grounded thereupon to prove the Church of England Antichristian so they promise to all the world that they will in the strength of the Lord of Hosts for ever seperate from Cuurch Ministery and worship of England and all and every one of them as Antichristian and false And conclude that all the Ministers of the Church of England are not true Ministers of Christ but false and Antichristian Ministers and that our Religion neither is the true Religion nor that it leads men the true way to salvation and they affirme that they groundedly and absolutely deny that either the Church of England is or ever was a true Church And from many such premises as these they exhort all good people that are in the bosome of the Church of England as they love their owne inward peace and spirituall joy to withdraw their spirituall obedience and subjection from her Others of them esteem no better of their brethren then of Insidels Vnbelievers and Heathens and proclaime them in their writings published by authority to be men who deny disclaime and preach against Christs Kingly government over his Churches men unconverted or at least converted but in part wanting the maine thing to wit Christs Kingly Office men visibly out of the Covenant of grace who have not so much as an outward profession of faith who deny Christ to be their King to whose persons and infants the very Sacraments and Seales of grace with all Church-communion may and
as in him so for his sake and merits with all that shall believe in him And in this notion they acknowledge him as he is revealed in the holy Scriptures and set forth to be the Saviour of his people from their sinnes Matth. 1. vers â—1 to be that Lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world John 1. vers 29. Amongst many examples for the more full illustration of the whole matter these few following may suffice as that in the story of Joseph Genesis 37 where the messengers brought Josephs coat to Jacob his father vers 32.33 See now say they whether it be thy sonnes coate or no. Thâ—n he knew it to be the very coat and said it is my sonnes coate He knew it very well before but here he avoucheth his knowledge of it that is he did acknowledge it with certainty Another example we have of Thomas John 20. vers 25 26 27 28 29. who when the Disciples told him that Christ was risen and that they had seen the Lord be said unto them Except I see his hands and the print of the nailes and put my finger into the print of the nailes and put my hand into his side I will not believe it And eight daies after his Disciples were againe within and Thomas with them then came Jesus and stood in the middest and said Peace be unto you After said he to Thomas put thy finger here and see my hands c. and be not faithlesse but faithfull Then Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou beleivest blessed are they that have not seen and have believed Thomas knew well that Christ was wounded but when he saw the wounds then he acknowledged as well his owne infidelity as that Christ was his Lord and his God and in expresse words avoucheth his knowledge with certainty Here the story of the Samaritans John 4. may have place who believed before they saw Christ by the womans relation of him that he was the Messiah but they believed much more after they had both seen and heard him and did publikely acknowledge him to be the Christ the Saviour of the World vers 41. This Christ doth the Church of England though they have neither heard nor seen him believe in and know yea with certainty and approbation acknowledge him to be their Lord and their God and the Saviour of the world and therefore by Christs owne mouth are proclaimed blessed and need feare no mans curses Yea the Church of England doth both know and acknowledge this Christ in as ample a manner as humane frailty can attaine to and publish and preach salvation onely in his name according to the holy Scriptures and will to the last drop of their blood acknowledge him to be their Lord and onely redeemer in the which they are most assured to find comfort in life and death and by the power of whose might to be more than conquerours through him that loved them Rom. 7. vers 37. and are sure of life eternall which Christ himselfe hath promised to them that know him John 17. ver 3. This is life eternall saith he that they know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ According to the Prophesie of Isaiah Chap. 53. ver 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall be are their iniquities That Church therefore in the which the knowledge of the onely true God and of Jesus Christ is diligently fully and sincerely taught unto the people and where Christ is received and acknowledged by them to be the eternall Sonne of God and the redeemer of the world that Church is a true Church and is built upon the foundation of Peter and believes as it ought to believe But in the Church of England the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ is knowne acknowledged taught and published in as ample a manner as is above specified as all men can witnesse Ergo it is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter c. And thus much Master Montague shall serve to have spoken of the first part of my syllogisme the truth of all which you cannot deny without wronging your own judgement and the truth it selfe Now I come to the second part viz That the Church of England doth believe in Jesus Christ as it ought to believe which you denied in that it doth renounce all selfe-merit in the worke of redemption and all will-worship and humane inventions in Gods service which is the qualification and very effigies of true and saving faith and which is requisite in any Church to make it a true Church and without which it cannot indeed be a true Church which will evidently appeare when I have described what is meant by beleeving in Jesus Christ and renouncing all selfe-merit in the matter of salvation and all wil-worship humane inventions in Gods service But now to begin with believing To believe in Jesus Christ is nothing else but to owne and embrace him as he is revealed to us in the holy Word of God for the alone onely and perfect Saviour and to place their whole affiance confidence and trust in him onely for salvation and to rely upon him as their onely Redeemer and perfect Saviour and that with a certaine and solid perswasion and invincible assurance according to that of Saint Peter John 6. ver 68. 69. Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Sonne of the living God Here was a certaine and unmoveable assurance in the Apostles which did evidence the truth of their faith Such was Abrahams faith Rom. 4. ver 19 20 21 22 23 24 25. Who against hope believed in hope c. and being not weake in faith c. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbeliefe but was strong in faith giving glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able to performe And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Now it was not written for his sake alone but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him who raised up Jesus from the dead Who was delivered for our offences and was raised againe for our justification In this place we may take notice of the Patriarch Abrahams faith whose example was set down for our imitation that as he believed and gave glory to God by his faith so should we Now consider I pray the variety of the holy Apostles expression in setting downe Abrahams faith Who saith he against hope believed in hope He was not weake in the faith He staggered not at the promise through unbeliefe but was strong in the faith and fully perswaded Here are very glorious praises of Abrahams faith and indeed the praise of the faith of the Saints of old was this that
force of which argument you had thought by a glosse and flourish to have evaded but all the cunning of man cannot doe it as in its due place will appeare But after you had once got your head into this fort and refuge you uttered many things very erroneous equalizing your traditions yea preferring them before the written Word accusing the Scripture of imperfection and denying them that due honour which is to be the rule of our faith and manners and the square by which we must order our lives affirming further more that they were accidentally written and not on purpose to be the rule of our doctrine and manners and that for the making of the Scripture a compleat and absolute rule the unwritten word received and entertained in all ages by tradition ought to be added to it which when the Church of England did not observe and admit of it did not believe as Christ ordained and as it ought to believe for the speculative and practicall parts of Divinity for to believe in Christ effectually and sufficiently to salvation as you said was not enough to believe both the natures of Jesus Christ and all his Offices but it consisted in this that we conforme our selves to a beliefe speculative and to a religion that is practicall for the Church was determined in these two points that is to say without the Church of England would imbrace and entertaine your traditions and believe your unwritten verities as they are commonly termed it could not be a true Church Hereupon I then undertooke to maintaine and prove first that the written Word in it selfe without any unwritten verities or traditions contained all things necessary to salvation Secondly that all Christians were tied to make that and that only the rule of their faith and manners which you said if I could prove you would be a Protestant and after some debate of these businesses and that Sir John Gotherick had said unto you magnifying your unwritten verities that if you could make it appeare that you had as good warrant for your traditions as we could shew for the Scriptures that then he would receive and imbrace them to whom you replyed that you could prove them by better authority than he could prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God But I perceiving at that time that you grew something weary and seeing withall for want of a moderator that things began something disorderly to be handled I told you that I would by writing reduce all those things that were then agitated and bring them into good order and set downe such other arguments as should sufficiently prove the Church of England to be a true Church and send you them all in writing which you not onely liked well of but earnestly also desired me so to doe and I promised likewise in the same writing evidently to prove that the Scriptures of the old and new Testament without any traditions contained all things in them necessary to salvation and that they are the onely rule and square which we are tied unto for the ordering of our faith lives and manners which is now my taske that in the following discourse I have taken upon me and I doubt not by Gods assistance but to make good and maintaine what I have undertaken But before I come to that that all men may see the Church of England faileth in nothing necessary to salvation either in respect of theory or practice although I have formerly proved it yet I thought fit briefly againe to runne over and to declare what she teaches for her beliefe speculative and her religion practicall that I may make use of some of your expressions and wherein she differs from the Church of Rome that the Church of Englands tenent being set downe on the one side and the errours and idolatry of the Church of Rome on the other all men may learne to love and imbrace the Church of England and to abhorre and abandon the Church of Rome that mother of abomination and that you Mr. Montague that have formerly undutifully deserted and forsaken her may with the Prodigall returne and yeild unto her your mother Christian and wonted duty and obedience Which I am confident will be more to your true comfort and honour than ever any thing done by you in all your life And now to begin I affirm for beliefe speculative and religion practicall it is orthodoxly and and clearely taught in the Church of England in all points and to begin with the speculative part Whatsoever I say is required of us to be knowne concerning God is perspicuously taught in the Church of England both in respect of the divine essence and nature of God as also of the persons in the blessed Trinity as likewise of their names and workes and of all their glorious attributes As that there is but one onely true God distinguished into the Father Sonne and holy Ghost the al-sufficient Jehovah Creator and governour of all things which onely living God the Church of England with an unanimous consent doth honour serve and worship in spirit and truth as he himselfe commands John 4. vers 24. and as he hath in all ages been worshipped by all the family of the faithfull that call upon his name in sincerity since the glorious ascension of Christ into Heaven and teaches the people so to worship him The Church of England doth fully likewise instruct the people in what a happy and blessed condition man was created being made after Gods owne Image and likenesse Genes 1. v. 27. and into what misery he afterwards plunged himselfe and all his posterity by reason of his transgression disobedience and infidelity in listning unto the suggestion of the diâ—â—ll as it is at large described in Genes chap. 3. And as it doth daily acquaint them with the nature of sinne the danger of it and the evill consequences that insue upon it as all manner of miseries here and eternall damnation hereafter if by timely repentance they breake not off the course of them which duty they daily exhort them unto In like manner it teacheth the people that next to the eternall love of God who in Christ Jesus made choice of them before the foundation of the world Ephes 1. v. 3 4 5. that they owe the whole worke of their redemption unto Jesus Christ alone who taking humane nature upon him was made sinne for us that knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. vers 21. So that if we consider the whole summe of our salvation and all the parts of it they are contained and comprehended in Christ to whom alone all the honour glory and praise of all our blessednesse both present and future is to be ascribed and not any parcell of it to be attributed to any creature in Heaven or earth So that if any desires to be saved and to be eternally blessed the Church of England instructs them there is no other meanes to
be saved by but by the Name of Jesus Acts 4. v. 12. and that Salvation is onely in him And therefore if they seeke and desire all such gifts and graces of the holy Spirit without which they can neither know God nor believe in him as they ought the Church of England teaches them that they are onely to be found in Christs unction of whose fulnesse we have received grace for grace John 1. And if they want strength and power to subdue their corruptions and to support them in temptation the Church of England teacheth that they may finde them in Christs Dominion and Soveraignty to whom all power in Heaven and Earth is given Matth. 28. ver 18. If they desire purity and innocency they have it in his conception If they desire mercy compassion and commiseration they have it in his birth Who was made like unto us that he might have compassion on us and make our reconciliation with God Heb. 3. v. 17. If we desire redemption we have it in his death and passion If we desire absolution and freedome from guilt we have it in Christs condemnation If we seeke a discharge or delivery from malediction and the curse we have it in his crosse Gal. 3. v. 13. If we seeke for satisfaction and a full payment unto the wrath and justice of God we have it in his sacrifice If we desire to be purged and cleansed from all our sinnes and iniquities we have it in his blood 1 John chap. 1. v. 7. If we seeke for reconciliation we have it in his bitter agony and sufferings 2 Cor. chap. 5. v. 18 19 21. If we seeke the mortification of the flesh and crucifying of the old man we have it in his grave And if we desire and seeke for newnesse of life and vivifying of the Spirit and immortality we have them all in his resurrection Rom. 6. v. 4 5. And if we seeke for the Kingdome of Heaven we have it in his ascension And if we looke for ayd and helpe in time of need and in all our distresses or if we desire plenty sufficiency and the affluency of all good things to supply all our wants and necessities we shall finde them in his Soveraignty and Kingdome And if we wait for a joyfull and dreadlesse expectation of the last judgement we have it in Christ who we know is our Mediator that shall be the Judge both of quick and dead and therefore we doe with joy lift up our heads knowing that our salvation and redemption draweth nigh In a word the Church of England teacheth all these things to the people and that all the riches and treasures of all good things are to be found in Christ Jesus Colos 2. vers 3. and that to him alone they ought to have recourse if they would be replenished and have their wants at any time supplied And whither indeed upon all occasions should we flie but unto Christ for as S. Peter sayeth John 6. vers 68. Lord to whom shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall like Therefore the Church of England teacheth all men to make their addresses to Christ onely for to him onely is to be ascribed all the honour and praise of our Redemption And the Church of England hath very good reason and warrant out of Gods Word ever to maintaine the truth of this Doctrine that the whole sum of our salvation and all the parts of it are onely to be found in Christ For otherwise they cannot yeeld unto God that honour that is due to him and is to be kept and preserved inviolably for him without any diminution neither can they findâ— that peace and comfort in their consciences if they rely upon any abilitie or forces of their owne or rest in any of their own performances in the which they know there is so much imperfection and so many failings And this were but to forsake the fountaine of living waters and to dig themselves broken cisternes which cannot hold a drop of true comfort besides all this there is great danger in so doing in all respects for to ascribe or attribute any thing unto themselves in the work of redemption is meere blasphemy in that they take away that honour that is wholly and intirely belonging to the Mediator God blessed for ever and ascribe it to a meer creature which is indeed an horrid impiety For the Prophet Isa 53. v. 4. 6. saith that the Father hath layd the iniquities of us all upon his Sonne that by his stripes wee should be healed Which very thing S. Peter in other words expresseth 1 Epist chap. 2. ver 24. saying that Christ did in his body heare our sinnes upon the Tree And S. Paul in the 8 of the Rom. v. 2 3. affirmes that sin was condemned in his flesh when He was made sinne for us and redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us 2 Cor. 5. v. 24. Gal. 3. v. 13. That is to say the power force and curse of sin was killed and slaine in his flesh when hee was offered up and given to be a Sacrifice for us upon whom the whole heape and masse of our sinnes with all the curse and malediction with the dreadfull judgement of God and condemnation of death was layd So that I say the Church of England ascribes all the honour of our redemption to Christ alone and teaches all men that if in the least thing they should rob Christ of his due honour as it is an insufferable sinne and indignity in any to do so by it they câ—â—â—ind no peace in their soules and consciences for being justified by Faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. vers 1. who wee know hath fully satisfyed God for us but if any rely upon their owne performances or any workes done by them such is the imperfection of them and so many failings there be alwayes in them that they can never finde any reall and true peace or solid comfort but there will be ever doubtings whether in all things they have done their duty compleatly and as they ought And therefore the Church of England according to the holy Scriptures attributes the whole worke of our redemption to Christ alone and teaches the people that by his stripes they are made whole and so in this speculative belief it fayleth not The Church of England likewise diligently instructeth the people how they may be made partakers of Christ and all his benefits and shewes them the way directly of attaining this felicity and that is by teaching them selfe-deniall and 〈◊〉 humble themselves for their Iniquities Transgressions and 〈◊〉 under God mighty hand and to come out of themselves and exhorts thâ—m to â—y unto Christ and by faith alone to lay hold upon him and â—pply him with all his benefits and merits unto themselves 〈◊〉 which they may stand justified before God and sanctifiedâ— and then it teacheth them also that the ordinary way and
made for us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. ver 3â— and who was made sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and therefore to be built upon the foundation of Peter is to believe in Jesus Christ and in him onely for salvation for there is no other name whereby we may be saved And that this is the true meaning of that metaphoricall expression may be evidenced by innumerable testimonies in holy Scripture but for the present these shall serve the following discourse will afford us more But this I thought fit to set downe because the termes of my syllogisme being cleared the ensuing discourse will be more intelligible And I now come to prove my minor which was that the Church of England was built upon the foundation of Peter Which you denied but by me is thus proved That Church which acknowledgeth Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of the eternall living God and believeth onely in him for salvation renouncing all merit wil-worship humane inventions in Gods service which continues stedfastly in the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets and in the which Church the Gospell of Jesus Christ is purely preached repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ and where the Sacraments are rightly administred and in the which there is the true invocation of God That Church is built upon the foundation of Peter and teacheth the way the truth and the life and is the pillar and ground of truth But the Church of England acknowledgeth Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of the eternall living God and believes onely in him for salvation renouncing all merit wil-worship humane inventions in Gods service and continues stedfastly in the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets in which Church the Gospell of Jesus Christ is purely preached repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ and where the Sacraments are rightly administred and in the which there is the true invocation of God Ergo the Church of England is built upon the foundation of Peter and teacheth the way the truth and the life against which the gates of hell can never prevaile and is a true Church the ground and pillar of truth To this syllogisme you first shewed your dislike in regard of the length of it though in very deed considering the waightinesse of the businesse in hand it being about the way to salvation and concerning the true Church which shewes the path to Heaven there cannot too much almost be said Secondly you affirmed that there was not any one portion of those many parts of it as you exprest your selfe that you could not except against And whereas I spake of merit and will-worship you affirmed if you should stand upon the doctrine of merit the application of it would demand a weeke but in fine you denied the minor asserting that we did not believe in Jesus Christ as we should and ought to believe that the Sacraments were not truely and rightly administred in the Church of England and then put me upon the proofe of my minor Which I shall by Gods gracious assistance evidently evince and make good with every part and portion of it notwithstanding whatsoever you denied then or shall hereafter be able to gainsay Using therefore the same liberty I did formerly I will first explaine and then confirme the severall parts of my syllogisme and shew not onely the necessity but the truth of every one of them and with so much the more care and diligence they being indeed the infallible notes and characters of a true Church and as I may rightly say the everlasting markes of the same never deceiving so that wheresoever they be found they are so many evidences and charters to confirme the Church to be a true Church where they are yea any one of them much more all together will abundantly testifie that Church to be the house of God the Church of the living God the ground and pillar of truth And that all these notes and marks are in the Church of England I shall Master Montague by Gods assistance as I said before elucidately prove so that all your evasions captions and exceptions with all your denials will speedily appeare to be groundlesse and of no validity for the enervating much lesse overthrowing of so solid and grounded a truth The parts therefore of my minor are these First That the Church of England doth acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of the living God Secondly that it doth believe in this Jesus Christ as it ought to believe in that it doth renounce all merit will-worship and humane inventions in Gods service Which is the qualification and very effigies of true and saving faith and which is requisite in any Church to make it a true Church and without all which indeed it cannot be a true Church Thirdly That it continueth stedfastly in the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets Fourthly and lastly that the Gospell is purely preached in the Church of England repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and that the Sacraments are rightly there administred And that there is the true invocation of God in the Church of England These are the parts of my syllogisme which in order I will explaine and confirme and shew the verity of every one of them in the Church of England And although I should say no more after that yet it would suffice to shew the vanity of your exceptions and negation and confirme the full truth of my whole syllogisme Now to begin with the first viz. That the Church of England doth acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of the eternall living God which is easily evinced in whatsoever signification the word acknowledge be taken Which manner of expression I rather made choice of than of any other as conceiving it subject to lesse exceptions among intelligible and ingenuous men For to acknowledge any thing is more than a bare knowledge it being a recognition the thing being not unknown to him before but now calling it to memory or it being brought to his hearing or sight upon deliberation with certainty he doth avouch his knowledge of it As when a man is charged with a Letter or any other thing and it be presented to his view and it be demanded of him whether he knowes the Letter or the thing presented to him or no or whether he will owne it He answers I acknowledge it that is he declares to all men and confesseth it to be his owne here is a knowledge with approbation So that take the word in whatsoever sense it is commonly used either for approving allowing confessing avouching owning in all this diversitie of expressions or if there be any other the Church of England doth acknowledge Jesus Christ of whom it hath often heard in the holy Word of God that he was the beloved Sonne of God in whom the Lord was well pleased and
they were certainly assured So we read Luke 1. vers 1. Whereof we are fully perswaded c. and Heb. 10. vers 34. And yee tooke the spoyling of your goods with joy knowing in your selves you had in Heaven a better and induring substance So in the first Epistle of St. John chap. 3. vers 2. Behold now are we the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know that when he shall appeare we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is In all the Saints we finde an infallible assurance and an undaunted and unremoveable confidence in Jesus Christ who they believed was delivered for their offences and raised againe for their justification knowing there was no other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved Acts 4 ver 11. And this faith in Jesus Christ is that that will support us in all tribulations and finally save us according to that in St. John chap. 3. ver 14 15 16. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Sonne of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God so loved the world that be gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And vers 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned butâ—â— that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Sonne of God And in Chap. 5. ver 24. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Numberlesse testimonies might be accumulated out of the holy Scripture to prove that only to be the true faith and knowledge of Christ when we do conceive him in such sort as he is offered of the Father that is to say clothed with the Gospell for faith hath a mutuall relation to the word and the word to faith because the word is the fountaine of faith and the ground of faith and the mirrour in which faith beholdeth God as Christ saith here He that believeth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life This that I have now said Mr. Montague will I hope give satisfaction to any rationall man if not to your selfe that the Church of England believeth as it ought to believe because it regulates the faith of all Christians according to the word of God and Christ their onely Prophet and therefore it is an unanswerable argument that the Church of England is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter when it joyneth the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ and faith in him alone together Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. v. 25 26. When therefore I say the Church of England joyneth the knowledge of God and Christ and faith in them both inseparably together and makes daily publication of this same doctrine it is evident that it is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter the ground and pillar of truth and where salvation may be attained unto for that Church which shall confesse with the mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead shall be saved for with the heart men believe unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Rom. 10. But the Church of England doth all this Ergo it believeth as it should believe and is a Church where salvation may be found And had the Church of England Mr. Montague but this marke alone it were enough for ever to stop the mouthes of all gainsayers and prove that it is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter and believes as it ought to believe And now I come to the qualification viz. That the Church of England doth renounce all self-merit in matter of salvation and all will-worship and humane inventions in Gods service which are requisites in any Church to make it a true Church and without which it cannot be a true Church You may remember Mr. Montague when you heard the name of merit and will-worship you began to bestir your selfe as if it had something troubled you and it doth indeed highly concerne you to looke about you lest falling upon the rocke of your owne merits you dash your selfe in pieces and destroy your owne soule And you affirmed that if you should speake of the doctrine of merits it would last you a weeke Truely Mr. Montague if you should speake a moneth or a yeere together of Christs merits and what he hath done and suffered for the redemption of mankind I should willingly be your anditor and think that nothing sufficient enough could be uttered or expressed to magnifie Gods and Christs love and to stirre up thankfulnesse obedience and love to God and Christ againe for their infinite mercy towards us such miserable creatures as we poore men are But Mr. Montague if you shall speake but one minute of an houre to extoll mans merit or to preach that men by their good workes can or may merit Heaven or if you goe about to establish that blasphemous doctrin for it is no better you shall have just cause to repent all the daies of your life for your so doing for this doctrine tends to overthrow the glorious Gospell and the whole worke of our redemption and Christs sufferings and opens an other way to Heaven than any of the Saints of old knew of who ever taught that Christ onely was the way the truth and the life and not mens merits and workes of supererogation Therefore Mr. Montague that Church that teacheth the free grace and eternall love of God in Jesus Christ unto the people when we were dead in our sinnes and trespasses and that inculcates self-deniall upon all men and urges them in matter of salvation to rely onely upon Christ and his obedience and passion with all his merits and to follow the guidance of his word for the manner of his service and teaches them to reject all will-worship and humane inventions in honouring God that Church believes as it ought to believe and teacheth the true way to Heaven and is built upon the foundation of Peter for all these things are the necessary requisites for the making of a true Church as I shall God willing speedily shew But if I shall be more large upon this point I desire your pardon for in my opinion it is a doctrine of as great concernment as any in Religion and where it is taught it is a sure evidence of a true Church In the handling of the which I will
and as prevalent to declare the truth of that tenent as if indeed that word had been expressed Notwithstanding all that I have now said to prove the doctrine of free justification by faith alone to bee grounded upon the Scripture and that according to the holy Word of God the Church of England preacheth it and by that proves it selfe a true Church yet the Church of England doth not teach that that faith by which we are justified is alone or solitary without the company and fellowship of good workes and other vertues and graces which are the fruits of faith but urgeth likewise and teacheth all holy duties to be joyned with Faith as wee shall see afterwards and that wee should be abounding in good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in for the glorifying of his name and to justify unto the world the livelinesse of our faith as all the Saints of old have done But now Mr. Mountague that you may see the error of your wayes and that all men may behold the impiety and vanity of the doctrine of selfe-merits and of the works of supererogation and that we may all be humble under the mighty hand of God and learne this lesson of selfe-denyall I shall for a corollary adde a few things and then conclude this point Our Saviour Christ saith Luke the 17. When you shall have done all those things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Is not this an extreame arrogancy think you Master Montague in any man when our Saviour Christ himselfe teacheth us to say we are unprofitable servants when we have done whatsoever is commanded us both in the law and the Gospell to say and affirme that we are meriting and deserving servants yea is it not an impious ridiculosity to affirme it when notwithstanding we do transgresse the Commandements of our Master a thousand wayes For these two conclusions do necessarily result out of our Saviours words First that when wee have done all that God commands we are yet but unprofitable servants The second that we have done but that was our duty to doe Out of the which words I thus argue Hee that when he has done all that he is commanded to do is yet but an unprofitable servant he cannot merit much lesse doe workes of supererogation But every man when he hath done all that is commanded him to doe is yet but an unprofitable servant Ergo he cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation All this is confirmed by our Saviours owne words who cannot erre we must leave the works of merit to Christ alone and say we are unprofitable and deny our selves if we will be his Disciples Out of the same words I gather this argument also They which have done but that which was their duty to do when they have done all that was commanded them they cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation But when they have done all that was commanded them both in the Law and Gospell they have done but that which was their duty to do Ergo they cannot merit much lesse do works of supererogation You must needs understand Mr. Montague the Doctrine of merits who are able to discourse a weeke together of them and therefore you know very well that in your Roman Dialect merits works of supererogation are such things and performances as are done above that that is commanded them and when men do more than they are injoyned by God and exceede in their duty to a superplus This I say is your language But if no man can attaine to such perfection of obedience as the Romanists speake of then by their own confession the Doctrin of merits is a false doctrin and ought by all men to be abominated and so much the rather we ought to abhor it because it is a Doctrine of blasphemy and is as much in effect as to give the Lord of Life truth it selfe the lie for Christ sayth When you have done all things that are commanded you say you are unprofitable servants for you have done that which was your duty Notwithstanding the Papists say they can merit But Christ who is the Master and Doctor of his Church and whom we are commanded to heare Mat. 3. Mat. 17. has taught us otherwise affirming we cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation which will plainly appeare if we examine a few instances and go through some particulars We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our mind and with all our mighâ— and to love our Neighbour as our selfe I now demand of you Mr. Mountague whether either your selfe or any man can attaine unto this perfection of love the Lord requires at your hands and so fulfill the Law If it be acknowledged that no man can attaine to this perfection of love then he is a transgressor of the Law and is so far from meriting favour at Gods hand as he merits eternall death by it for the soule that sinnes shall die Ezekiel 18. for the wages of sin is death Numb 6. But if you answer that you can keepe this Law notwithstanding you cannot yet merit by it by Christs own words who proclaimeth you an unprofitable servant affirming that you have done but your duty Againe in the fifth of Matth. 4. vers 8. our Saviour saith Be yee therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Here the Lord Jesus Christ for the ordering of our obedience and regulating of our lives sets before us as a modell rule and example which we must ever follow the perfection that is in God himselfe our Heavenly father and commands all men to be perfect as he himselfe is perfect I demand of you Mr. Montague can you or any man attaine unto this perfection that is in God which neverthelesse we are commanded to do If you do acknowledge that no man can attaine to it as no man can indeed then you are a transgressor of this command and fayling in your duty you deserve condemnation and therefore are far from meriting But if you shall affirme that you can attaine to this perfection and should really do that you are commanded yet you are still an unprofitable servant and have done but your duty and therefore have not yet merited any thing We are commanded both in the old Testament and in the new to be holy and for the pattern of our holinesse as of our perfection the holinesse of God is set downe before us for our imitation As he that hath called you saith St. Peter is holy so be you holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy as I am holy Levit. 11. ver 24. 19.2 the 20.7 I desire you to tell me whether you or any man can attaine to that perfection of holinesse through the whole course of your life that is in God if not you have transgressed this
as they finde it in the written word of the old and new Testament as they make that and that only the Rule of their faith and obedience and no unwritten word or Traditions Councells or Fathers no farther than they are grounded upon the written word contained in the holy Bible And this the Church of England hath good warrant to do from Christs both precept and example and from both the Prophets and Apostles practice John the 5. v. the 39. Search the Scriptures saith Christ for in them yee thinke to have eternall life and they are they which testify of mee And v. 46.47 for had yee believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me but if yee believe not his writings how shall you believe my words Here our Saviour Christ ratifyes Moses his writings to be of Divine authority and equalizes them with if not prefers them before his owne words saying if yee believe not his writings how shall yee believe my words And in the sixteenth of Luke in the person of Abraham Christ sendeth all men that desire salvation to the writings of Moses saying v. 29 30 31. they have Moses and the Prophets let them heare them if they would escape damnation and have eternall life And Dives sayd Nay Father Abraham but if one come unto them from the dead they will amend their lives and repent And he said unto him If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Here our Saviour tyes them precisely to the Scriptures and affirmes they are more prevalent to bring men unto Repentance and to save their soules than any miracles whatsoever and therefore that they are only to be cleaved unto by all the sonnes of Abraham And as he commanded all men to have recourse to Moses and the Prophets so all the time of his life and after his resurrection hee taught all his auditors out of the holy Scriptures Luke the 24. vers 27. and after that our Saviour Christ had upbrayded his Disciples for their unbeliefe He began saith the Evangelist at Moses and all the Prophets and expounded to them through all the Scriptures the things concerning himselfe And vers 44. he said unto them These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning me Here our Saviour Christ instructs and teaches his Disciples onely out of the written Word and in them all Christians and sends them onely to the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalmist and affirmes that they were the voice of God which the Lord spake and uttered by them All the Prophets likewise sent the people to the written word as Deut. 30. Isaiah 8. ver 20. To the Law and to the Testimonies saith the Prophet if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Here the Lord by his Prophet sends all men to the written Word in which he declared his pleasure and will unto them and affirmes that they that speake not according to that Word they have no light in them that is they are in errour and darknesse according to that of our Saviour Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures Matth. 22. ever sending them to the Scripture for knowledge And Malac. 4. the Lord there vers 4. Remember saith he the law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgements Here all the Church of the Jewes were sent unto the written Word and manded ever to remember that that was left by Gods appointment for the rule of their faith and obedience and to that onely they were stedfastly to cleave And Paul in Acts 24. vers 14. in his owne defence before Felix speakes thus This I confesse unto thee that after the way which they call heresie so worship I the God of my fathers believing all things in the Law and the Prophets The written word was the ground of his faith he continued stedfastly in the doctrine of the Prophets and taught all men so to doe proving and confirming his doctrine out of the holy Sciptures of the Prophets and convincing the Jewes out of them from morning to evening Acts 28. ver 23. And in Acts 26. ver 22. Witnessing saith the Apostle both to small and great saying no other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come Nothing but Scripture and the doctrine contained in them was the foundation of both the true Jewish and Christian Church And Apollos a man eloquent and mighty in the Scripture used the same way of teaching Acts 18. vers 28. who shewed by the Scriptures that Jesus was that Christ And Paul to the Thessalonians in the first Epistle chap. 5. vers 19 20. Quench not the spirit saith he despise not the Prophesies a thing worthy the noting after he had exhorted them to nourish in themselves the sparks of the Spirit of God kindled in them that they might not be deluded by any false spirit or conceive they had the Spirit when they had it not he ties them to the rule by which they should try the Spirits whether they be of God or not and that rule was the Prophesies of the old Testament and the studying of them As much as if he had said to the Thessalonians nourish daily within you all the graces of knowledge and wisdome the Spirit of God hath bestowed upon you and increase more and more in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus saying Quench not the Spirit and that you may the better increase in knowledge and abound in all gifts and graces and the truth and that ye may not be led away with any deceiving spirit and vaine delusion instead of true illumination after the manner of many enthusiasts who dreame of new inspirations new lights regulate your whole illumination and your spirit and knowledge according unto the written prophesies of the old Testament follow them and you cannot erre therefore saith he despise not the prophesies but by them try all things and keepe that which is good and agreeable to them and whatsoever is not agreeable to them is a meere delusion and not the true Spirit who is ever like it selfe and therefore he ties them to the prophesies of the old Testament as well as to the Scriptures of the new So Saint Peter in his second Epistle chap. 1. vers 19. We have also a more sure word of the Prophets saith he to the which ye doe well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in our hearts Here the holy Apostle Peter ties all Christians as well to the written Word of the old as to the Scriptures of the new This written Word was the foundation of the Church of the Jewes and
is of all Christians It was the praise of all the Christians of the Primitive Church that they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayer Acts 2. ver 42. and that they searched the Scriptures as the Bereans And Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians chap. 2. vers 19 20. for their comfort tels them that they were not strangers and forainers but Citizens with the Saints and of the hâ—ushold of God and confirmes it unto them with a strong reason that they were the people of God and a true Church because saith he Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner Stone So that to continue constantly in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles is an irresistible argument and proofe of a true Church and that it is built upon the foundation of Peter Which when the Church of England continueth in swarving in nothing from that rule but alwaies hearing the voice of Christ it is manifest they are his sheep and are of God for so saith Christ John 8. ver 7. He that is of God heareth Gods Words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God speaking there to the unbelieving Jewes And chap. 10. My sheepe saith he he are my voice ver 27. And in Chap. 18. ver 17. Every one saith Christ that is of the truth heareth my voice And St. John in his first Epistle chap. 4. ver 6. saith We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error In these words St. John confirmeth that his own doctrine and the doctrine of all the Apostles was the assured Word of God and that they that were of God did heare it and that they that did not heare it that is obey it were not of God and that by this doctrine alone all men might distinguish truth from errour they that heare this doctrine are of the truth they that heare it not are led by the spirit of errour and are in darknesse Now then Mr. Montague when the Church of England in all things heareth the voyce of Christ and cleaveth onely to the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles the Church of Rome is not grounded upon the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but upon their vain traditions doctrines of men and will not suffer the Word of God to be read amongst the people nor permit the voice of Christ to be heard amongst them this necessarily followes from thence that the Church of England is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter and the Church of Rome is a false Church and founded upon errour and delusion And therefore Mr. Montague if you desire salvation come out of that confused Babylon into the bosome of the Church of England that teacheth the way the truth and the life and you will finde rest unto your soule And this shall satisfie to have spoken of this third part of my proposition Now I come to the fourth part viz. that in the Church of England the Gospell is purely preached repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sacraments rightly administred and in which there is the true invocation of God Another infallible and never deceiving note of a true Church which were it single and alone were sufficient to evince to the whole world that the Church of England is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter and therefore believes as it ought to believe By the pure preaching of the Gospell and right administration of the Sacraments and the true invocation of God I understand when all things are done in the ministry and preaching of the Gospell and administration of the Sacraments and invocation of the name of God and prayer according to Christs institution and according to the commission delivered unto the Apostles without addition of any thing or diminution but observing all things according unto the rule prescribed in all punctuall manner by such as God hath fitted for wisdome learning and all divine knowledge for that holy imployment and who doe accordingly in all uprightnesse sincerity and godly simplicity following the example of Paul 2 Cor. 2. vers 17. We saith he are not as many which make merchandise of the Word of God but of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speake we in Christ The Apostles did nothing in the ministry craftily or coveteously or lesse sincerely than they ought as more fully is expressed in chap. 4. ver 2. where he saith We have cast from us the cloake of shame and walke not in crafrinesse neither handle we the Word of God deceitfully but in declaration of the truth we approve our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God The Apostles preached the Gospell without subtilty and deceipt seeking no lurking-holes to cover their shamelesse dealing they preached not with excellency of words as Paul in 1 Cor. 2. declares or of wisdome in shewing the testimony of God which was the Gospell neither was their word and preaching in the inticing speach of mans wisdome but in plaine evidence of the Spirit and of power and not for self-ends After this example of the blessed Apostle is the Gospell preached by the Ministers of the Church of England who dispense the Ordinances according to their Commission neither adding nor detracting from it in any thing but withall care sedulity and watchfulnesse without base ends and self-respects attend upon the Ministry in their particular places and as they are made Watchmen unto their flockes by God himselfe so they receive the word from his mouth and give warning to the people Ezek. 3. ver 17. and they swerve not from the rule which will the better appeare if we examine the Commission the Lord Jesus gave to the Apostles Matth. 28. ver 19. Goe therefore saith Christ and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway untill the end of the world Their commission was limited that they should speake nothing but what Christ commanded them nothing of their owne heads and braines and keeping themselves within their limits they were ever sure of Gods presence and assistance who had promised them and all their successours in so doing to be with them to the end of the world they were bound therefore to teach nothing but Gods commands and that the holy Apostles observed and commanded all men though an Angel from Heaven should teach otherwise than they had taught them not to heare them under a fearefull curse Galat. 1. Now when the Church of England diligently keepes it selfe to the Commission given by Christ unto his Apostles and preaches the Gospell in all purity without any mixture of their owne
inventions and doctrines and that with all simplicity and godly integrity and administers the holy Sacraments without any addition diminution or detraction according as Christ appointed and cals upon the name of God according as he hath taught it is cleare to all men that the Church of England is a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter All which will more perspicuously be evidenced if we examine the severall commissions of the Apostles and consider what they preached unto the people whose example for preaching and doctrine the Church of England in all things follows and swarves not from Saint Peter in Acts 2. ver 37. When the people were pricked in their hearts at his Sermon and said unto the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe in Verse 38. according to his commission Repent saith he and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sinnes and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost for the promise is to you and your children and to all that are afarre off even as many as the Lord our God shall call To preach faith and repentance unto the people was their commission And in chap. 3. ver 23. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sinnes may be blotted out c. and Saint Paul sets downe his commission in the places following in Chap. 13. ver 23. Be it knowne unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you forgivenesse of sinnes And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses And in Acts 26. the Apostle Paul shewes his commission to King Agrippa and what by that he was to doe in Gods service and imployments His words are these I have saith the Lord Jesus appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a witnesse both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things I will appeare unto thee in delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee To open their eyes and to turne them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me Here is the Apostles Commission Now let us take notice how he executes it Whereupon O King Agrippa saith he I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision but shewed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and through all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turne to God and doe workes meet for repentance So that in the execution of his commission in opening their eyes and turning men from darknesse unto light and from the power of Satan unto God for the receiving of remission of sinnes and inheritance among them that are sanctified he preacheth unto them onely that they should repent and turne to God and doe workes meet for repentance and believe in Jesus Christ And in this consisted all the preaching of all the Apostles and Prophets and this is all the worke that the true Ministers of Jesus Christ have to doe unto the end of the world Which Commission when the Church of England fully and punctually observeth teaching them to repent and turne from sinne and idols unto the living God and to change their minds and purposes and to come out of themselves and flie unto God for mercy and pardon puting off their old mind and putting on a new in a word when the Church of England teacheth all men that true repentance consists in the universall change of the mind and of the whole life and turning unto God by unfeigned sorrow which proceedeth from an earnest serious and reall feare of God which continueth unto the last houre of mans life in the mortifying of the old man and crucifying of the flesh and in the quickuing of the new man and vivifying of the Spirit and labours by all meanes to humble men for their sinnes by which they have offended God that so they may obtaine mercy and become new creatures and manifest this change wrought in them by the amendment of their whole lives and returning into the waies of Gods Commandements and exhorteth them to the practising of all those vertues and graces God hath adorned them with and bestowed upon them and as they are a chosen generation a Royall Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darknesse into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. vers 9. Againe when the Church of England instructeth the people fully in the doctrine of saving faith teaching that it is a certaine setled and assured knowledge of the free grace mercy and love of God towards mankinde in Jesus Christ and grounded upon the truth of the gracious and free promise of God in Christ and is both revealed unto their minds and soules and sealed in their hearts by the holy Ghost so that as the Spirit of God doth illuminate their understanding worketh faith in their hearts withall he doth witnesse unto them their adoption and assureth them of their salvation in Jesus Christ and of life eternall according unto the Commission delivered unto the Apostles and which likewise they in their own particulars preached unto their auditors as the whole Scriptures witnesse now when the Church of England I say not onely instructeth the people rightly to believe and repent but also calleth upon them that they should joyne practise with theory and shew forth their faith by all good workes and a godly life and holy conversation and that they should daily increase and abound in all knowledge and labour for particular faith and certaine assurance of Gods love and that they may the better attaine unto this speciall assurance by which they may be supported in all temptations and tryals they exhort them diligently and carefully to read the Word of God which was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15. ver 4. and call upon them likewise to be diligent in the hearing of the holy Word and frequenting of the holy assemblies and encourage them to the reall practice of all those instructions and wholsome doctrines that they learne by the ministery of the Gospell that they may not only be Saints in the Church and in publique but at home in their houses yea and in their private closets and be holy in all manner of conversation both publique and private ever instructing their family ever shewing them good example and going before them in a godly and unblameable life walking before God in uprightnesse inall sincerity and before men unreproveable Again when the Church of England administers the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper according to Christ institution without addition and diminution but as they have
received them from the Lord as baptisme in pure water without mixtures and the Lords Supper in both elements in Bread and Wine with the very words of institution according to Christs appointment and command And withall continually instructs and teaches the people the end for which they were ordained and the right use of them with the true nature and meaning of those mysteries as that they are outward and visible signes wherewith the Lord sealeth and confirmeth to our consciences the sweet promises of his good will and pleasure towards us for the sustaining and supporting of the feeblenesse and weakenesse of our faith and by the which we againe on our owne behalfes doe testifie our piety duty and love towards him as well before him and the blessed Angels as before men and declare unto the people that they are testimonies of Gods favour and good will towards us confirmed by outward signes and are visible forms of invisible grace And the Ministers of the Church of England also prepare the people by wholsome instructions what duties are required at their hands and what requisits are necessarily expected for the making of them capable and worthy partakers of these holy Ordinances and so to communicate in them as they may thereby bring glory to God and edification to others receive the comfort of the right celebrating the holy Sacraments in their own particular all which things I say when the Church of England conscientiously performeth according unto the rule prescribed in the holy Word and the example of Christ and the holy Apostles it is manifest that the Church of England declareth it selfe to be a true Church and built upon the foundation of Peter and believeth as it ought to believe Againe when the Church of England teacheth the people to put up all their prayers and supplications to God onely in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ by the assistance of the holy Spirit with an assured faith of being heard according to Christs direction saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Matth. 6. ver 6. 9. and Matth. 21. ver 22. Whatsoever ye shall aske in prayer if ye believe ye shall receive it And John 15. ver 7. and 1 John 5. ver 14. and John 14. vers 13 14. Whatsoever ye aske in my name I will doe it And John 16. ver 23. I say unto you whatsoever ye shall aske the Father in my name he will give it you And John 14. ver 6. I am the way the truth and the life No man commeth unto the Father but by me This way of praying unto God doth the Church of England teach unto the people and instruct them to whom in all calamities to make their addresses according to the doctrine of holy Scripture and that is to God alone Psal 50. Call upon me in the time of trouble c. And St. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy ch 2. exhorting all Christians to make prayers and supplications with thanksgiving for all men for Kings and such as are in authority and giving the reason of it because saith the Apostle God will that all men shall be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth that is to say all sorts of men without any difference of nation kind age or order And then he gives them a direction in whose name they shall put up their supplications that they may be accepted and that is in the name of Jesus Christ No man commeth unto the father but by Christ And therefore the Apostle as he did impose upon all Christians that duty of praying for all sorts of men Kings Emperours and Rulers so in that very place vers 5. he bids them put up their prayers in the sole name of Jesus Christ for saith he there is but one God to whom we must pray and there is but one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus in whose name we must put up all our prayers supplications and thanksgivings For as there is but one God of all Nations Kings Princes and Potentates so there is but one Mediator of all Nations Kings Princes and Potentates who onely hath given a ransome for them and whose blood speaketh better things than the blood of Abel for Abels cals for revenge but Christs blood cals for mercy and atonement and that continually for he is a perfect Mediator both for satisfaction and intercession and hath not resigned that office of intercession and mediatorship to either Saints or Angels and therefore it is great impiety and horrid sacriledge and blasphemy in any to rob Christ of his honour and glory and to ascribe it to the creatures especially when in expresse words the Apostle in the Rom. 8. ver 34. affirmes that Christ being at the right hand of God maketh requests for us And Saint John in his first Epistle chap. 2. v. 1 2. saith My little children these things write I unto you that you sinne not and if any man sinne we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the just and he is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but also for the sinnes of the whole world Here Christ is assigned by Saint John to be the Mediator of all sorts of men of all ages and in all places and in that he nominates Jesus Christ to be the Mediator he excludes all other advocates for reconciliation and intercession go inseparably together to give us to understand that he onely is our advocate who is our high Priest The same doctrine the authour to the Hebrews teaches all Christians in Chap. 5. v. 23 24 25. And they truely were many Priests c. by reason of death but this man because he continueth ever hath an everlasting Priesthood Wherefore also he is able to save them to the utmost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth and maketh intercession for them From all which places we see that the Priestly Office hath them ediation and intercession so annexed unto it that the one cannot be severed or taken from the other without detestable sacriledge and blasphemy and therefore it must needs be a greater impiety in all such as give the glory of the mediation and intercession to Saints and Angels when notwithstanding in expresse words the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians chap. 2. v. 18. hath not onely condemned it as detestable but shewes likewise the reason of it that it is pernicious and destructive to the soules of men and separates them from their head Christ Jesus his words are these Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of Angels c. and not holding the head Here we see the reward of such mens impiety for as they rob Christ of his honour and thrust him from his mediatorship so they by this are thrust out of Heaven not holding the head And in John 10. ver 9. Christ saith I am the doore by me if any man enter in
meanes of attaining this faith by which they may save their soules is the preaching and hearing of the Word and as this faith is attained to by hearing so it is dayly increased by the same as also by the right use and administration of the holy Sacraments and Prayers to all which duties they stir up the people with all sedulity and godly care And that they may the more deterre them from sinne and all manner of evill they do not onely declare unto them the horror of sinne and the present danger of it as that it is the cause of all miseries and calamities here but that it will also bring endlesse and eternall misery upon them hereafter and that they must all appeare at the last day before a dreadfull Judge there to give an accompt of whatsoever they have done in the body whether good or evill 2 Cor. chap. 5. vers 10. And that they should not deceive themselves for God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reape for hee that soweth unto the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth unto the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Gal. 6. v. 7 8. So that if we run through all the Theoricall part of Divinity you shall not finde the Church of England failing or defective in any point of beliefe speculative that is required and necessary for salvation when it teacheth every thing that Christ himselfe requires at mens hands that they should know to make them blessed Now all the knowledge that makes men blessed and that Christ injoynes them is the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ and self-deniall This is life eternall saith Christ Iohn 17. to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ And Mat. 16. If any will be my Disciple let him deny himselfe and come after mee Now I say when the Church of England teacheth the people the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ and the knowledge of themselves it teacheth all things for beliefe speculative for all speculative Divinity is contained in these two poynts And this shall suffice to have spoke of the Theoricall part of Divinity wherein the Church of England doth her duty And now Mr. Montague I will as briefly as I can declare and prove that the Church of England fayleth nothing in teaching all things for Religion practicall for in that shee teacheth us our whole duty both towards God and towards our Neighbour what we should doe and what wee should not do in the whole course of our lives for the pleasing of God and avoyding of sin and misery she doth her duty also in the practicall part of Divinity perfectly and fully For as all speculative Divinity consists as I sayd before in the knowledge of God and of our selves so all practicall Religion consists in the performance of our duty towards God in giving him his due honour and such a worship and service as he requires of us in his Word and that is spirituall as wee see John 4. vers 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth And in performing all offices of love and charity to our Neighbour and carrying our selves unblamably in this present World Jam. 1. vers 27. Pure Religion and undefiled saith S. Iames before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the Widow in their affliction and to keepe themselves unspotted from the World and in observing and fulfilling that royall Law chap. 2. vers 8. in loving our Neighbour as our selves In these two points consists all practicall Religion which is nothing else but a framing of our whole lives according to the Law of God considering that we are not at our owne disposing nor at our owne liberty but consecrated and dedicated unto God and therefore wee must deny our selves and forsake our owne reason and resigne our selves up to be guided and governed by the Word and Spirit of the Lord in all things belonging unto his worship And that wee ought not to seeke after those things that are our owne but those things that are according to the Will of God and tend to the advancement of his glory and Kingdom and in this does our practicall Religion concerning God consist and our love and duty towards our Neighbour is contained in these two things in being kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another Rom. 12. v. 10. In doing nothing through strife and vaine-glory but in lowlinesse of mind each esteeming others better than themselves Phil. 2. vers 3. And then in imploying our selves to the uttermost of our abilities with all sincerity and truth of affection and unfained love to procure their good and emolument in all things And under these two heads the love of God and of our Neighbour is comprised all the practicall Divinity or Religion the Word of God makes knowne unto men and requires at our hand Which when the Church of England doth dayly publish unto the people and teacheth all things concerning them fully it is aboundantly evident to any unpartiall man that she teachteh all things both for Theory and practice necessary for salvation and for the proving of her selfe to to be a true Church the ground and pillar of truth and to be built upon the foundation of Peter And as this conclusion doth necessarily issue upon the premises for the proofe of the truth of the Church of England so on the contrary this likewise will of necessity follow that that Church that neither teacheth those things that belong unto the beliefe speculative nor to the Religion practicall cannot be a true Church And I am confident Mr. Montague that you your selfe upon deliberation will not deny it And then also any man may inferre that the Church of Rome cannot be a true Church nor the ground and pillar of Truth when shee neither teacheth the people the true knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ nor the knowledge of themselves nor makes knowne unto them the spirituall way of worshipping him which he requires nor teacheth them their love and duty towards God and towards their Neighbour which God commands but with far greater reason they may conclude that the Church of Rome is not a true Church if they consider also that the Church of Rome not onely neglecteth her duty in not teaching the people the true knowledge of God and of themselves but also in that shee taketh away the Key of knowledge from them snatching the Word of God out of their hands and hindering the pure preaching of both Law and Gospel by which men might be saved and setting up an idolatricall worship and bringing in a new service of their owne devising and in that also that the Church of Rome doth not teach the people love towards their Neighbours the true servants of God but hatred and animates them to persecute them with fire and faggot
succession miracles pompe state and magnificence antiquity unity c. and that it is and alwaies hath been in a perspicuous and glorious forme and visible appearance and the Church of Rome also affirmeth that the pure preaching of the Gospell the right administration of the Sacraments and the true invocation of God are not the notes of a true Church which is most impious to thinke All this which I have now spoke is the beliefe and faith of the Church of Rome concerning the Kingly Office of Christ and his Kingdome the Church as you well know Master Montague Now I intreat you and all men a little to consider whether the faith of the Church of England or the beliefe of the Church of Rome touching Christs Kingly Office and his Kingdome be more orthodox and which of them most honoureth Christ the King And whether the Church of Rome doth any more but in word onely acknowledge Christ to be King and his Church to be his Kingdome but in workes deny them and whether the Church of England doth not both in word and deeds truely honour him for their King and venerate his Church and Kingdome as his Spouse The Church of England gives unto Christ his due honour prerogatives and priviledges and all his glory and dignity as their onely Law-giver and to the utmost of their power and abilities endeavour that his Soveraignty and Royalty may suffer no diminution nor may in the least thing be impeached or damnified and therefore they doe believe that the honour of governing and moderating of his Church is Christs peculiar priviledge and right and so annexed to his Crowne and Royalty and so peculiarly belonging unto the Lord of life as it is blasphemy in any to assume that honour of governing upon themselves or any of his glorious titles as that of Lord of Lords and foundation of the Church which are his Prerogatives and she believes also that it is a great sin and wickednesse in any Christian to allow and approve of such derogation from their King and master Jesus Christ The Church of Rome on the contrary ascribes and gives that honour and glory and those titles of dignity which belong unto Christ onely and are his peculiar Prerogatives unto a mortall Pope Christ and his Kingdomes immortall enemy and divides the government of the Church his Kingdome between Christ and the Pope yea they doe ascribe and give unto their Pope a greater power and authority than Christ assumed unto himselfe or that they give unto Christ For their Pope may both dispense with the Law of God and Christ and breake it when he pleaseth and decree against it as you know very well Mr. Montague which Christ never did or assumed to himselfe and the Church of Rome in all things gives more honour and obedience to the Pope than to Christ For where Christ forbids if the Pope commands they will obey the Pope and neglect Christs command and make nothing of it and where Christ commands and the Pope forbids they listen unto the Pope and obey him and trample Christs command under their polluted feet But for the more cleere evidencing of this truth and that neither you Mr. Montague nor any other may say I falsely charge the Church of Rome consider I pray these few following particulars to omit many more Christ in Matth. 20. ver 25. condemneth all worldly Dominion and princely government in his Church and in expresse words forbids his Apostles and in them all their successors to affect Soveraignty one over another or over the Church of God in these words The Kings of the Nations beare rule over them but it shall not be so among you Contrary unto this command or rather prohibition of Christ the Church of Rome setteth up a most tyrannicall worldly Monarchy and Dominion ruling over both the soules bodies and estates of all sorts rankes and degrees of men and such a Soveraignty as advanceth it selfe above all that is called God and establisheth a government in Christs Kingdome most like to the government of the Kings of the Nations whereas Christ would have the government and rule of his Church most unlike to that kind of government and therefore in this particular it is manifest they preferre the Popes command before Christs the King of his Church Christ in John 5. saith Search the Scriptures for in them ye thinke to have eternall life The Church of Rome on the contrary not onely takes away the Scriptures out of the hands of the people but prohibits the searching and the reading of them yea punisheth the reading of them or but the having of them in their houses in the vulgar tongue with fire and fagot and most blasphemously accuseth them to be the cause of all errours schismes and heresies and of all factions in Kingdomes and States And in this point also you may see how they listen more unto the Pope than unto Christ himselfe Christ Luke 11. instructeth all Christians how to pray saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. And in Matth. 11. Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavy laden c. The Church of Rome on the contrary commands the people to pray unto Saints and Angels and sends them on pilgrimages to their shrines there of them to demand health in the time of their needs and necessities In this particular in like manner they listen more to the Pope and sleight Christs direction and command Christ in the 24. of Matth. vers 26. saith If they shall say unto you that Christ is in the Desert goe not forth behold he is in the secret places believe it not The Church of Rome on the contrary teacheth and believeth that Christ is really present in all their Masses and that he is there in the hands of their Priests on their Altars and in their Pixes and where they please and that they ought there to give him Divine worship and punish the neglect of such worship with fire and sword and the not believing of that doctrine which is contrary unto Christs command with most cruell deaths and most exquisite tortures You see how in this point also the Church of Rome yeelds more obedience to the Popes command than Christs The Lord Jesus in the institution of his holy Supper Matth. 26. vers 27. tooke the Cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to his Disciples saying Drinke ye all of it The same doctrine was taught by Paul as received by Christ himselfe with a command that it should be continued untill his comming that all that were worthily prepared should take the cup as well as the bread 1 Cor. 11. Notwithstanding this double command of Christ the King the Church of Rome obeyes the Pope and practices the contrary and wholly takes away the cup from the people and will not so much as let them touch it much lesse taste of it a most abominable sacriledge and intolerable disobedience and rebellion Innumerable
more instances Mr. Montague might be produced where Christ the King of his Church commandeth and the Pope prohibits and where Christ prohibits and forbids and the Pope commands the contrary and where the Church of Rome in all things obeyes the Pope and disobeyes Christ by all which it may now easily appeare whether of the two Churches the Church of England or the Church of Rome is more orthodox in their doctrine and whether of them gives most honour to Christ But let me intreat you Master Montague ingenuously to answer me whether that Church that doth all that her Lord and King commandeth her and declineth all hee forbids her and gives her King all that due reverence and dignity that belongeth unto him doth not honour Christ more than that Church that regardeth neither his commands nor prohibitions but neglecteth them both and trampleth all his Lawes under her contaminated feet I am most confident Mr. Montague that upon your mature deliberation you will grant unto the Church of England that preeminency that she is more obedient to Christ her King and more honours his Kingly Office than the Church of Rome and that Christ is King unto the Church of Rome in word onely but in workes and deeds they neither regard either what he commands or what he forbids But now I come to the Priestly Office of Christ concerning which Mr. Montague I shall desire you seriously to weigh and examine the faith and beliefe of each Church concerning that and which of them believeth most orthodoxly and honoureth Christs Priestly Office most whether the Church of Rome or the Church of England Upon triall I believe it will appeare in this point also that the Church of Rome maketh the Priesthood of Christ a matter of nothing howsoever in words they acknowledge it The Church of England believeth that Christ Jesus was appointed and sealed by God himselfe to be the alone and onely mediator between God and man and that he onely has compleated and in all things fulfilled the whole Law of God and satisfied his justice and wrath by paying the ransome due for our transgressions when he offered himselfe a sacrifice propitiatory upon the crosse for our sins She believeth also that Christ alone doth now make request for us with God in whose Name all the faithful with confidence and boldnesse have continually accesse unto the Throne of grace with full assurance to be heard She believeth likewise that Christ alone is Mediator both of redemption and intercession and that we are not to put up our petitions and supplications either to Saints or Angels as being a thing derogatory to the dignity and glory of our Mediator the Lord Jesus Christ and a meere robbing him of his due honour She believeth in like manner that Christ is the onely Priest of the new Testament and that there are no other reall Priests on earth appointed by God to offer up Christ daily to God the Father a propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and for the dead and that it is blasphemy against the eternall Priesthood of Christ so to affirme She believeth also that the Sacrifice of Christ being of an infinite vertue and efficacy is to be applied to all believers by such meanes onely as God himselfe hath appointed as by the vertue and power of the holy Ghost and faith by the preaching of the Gospell and the right administration of the holy Sacraments and Prayer and that this Sacrifice offered upon the crosse was most perfect and absolute and ought not to be reiterated and renewed by any man upon the earth and that the reiteration of it is both derogatory to the al-sufficiency of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and pernicious to the soules of men and indeed a meere blasphemy She believeth further that we being cloathed with the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ our high Priest and Mediator and appearing before God in it that we are freed by vertue of that both from the guilt and punishment of all our sinnes and are accounted righteous before God She believeth also that the blood of Jesus Christ and that onely purgeth us from all our sinnes and that there is no other Purgatory by which the soules of men are purified and cleansed from their impurities and pollutions and that there is no man living that can either by doing or suffering satisfie the justice of God much lesse merit or doe workes of supererogation and that the preachers of the Gospell have onely power delegative ministeriall and conditionall to forgive sinnes as Ambassadours and not as absolute Judges and that this Office is peculiar to God and Christ alone as our high Priest and Mediator of the everlasting covenant And this is the faith of the Church of England concerning Christs Priestly Office The beliefe of the Church of Rome is this that Christ is the Mediator of satisfaction and redemption but they assigne the other part of his mediation and intercession to Saints and Angels and the prime place of that imployment they give unto the blessed Virgin who they call the Queen of Heaven and the doore of Paradise and they put up their prayers and requests to her and other Saints and Angels hoping to be heard which is nothing else but to allow Christ a momentany or temporary and partiall mediation and to give unto the Saints and Angels that everlasting and never dying intercession then the which there cannot be a greater contumely and indignity offered to the eternall Priest our Mediator Jesus Christ it taking away so great a portion of honour from him and to speake in plaine English it is an unsufferable blasphemy The Church of Rome appointeth other Priests also after the order of Melchisedech to offer up Christ himselfe daily as they say to God the father a propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead which is nothing else but blasphemously to insimulate and accuse Christs Sacrifice of imperfection The Church of Rome also asserteth and believeth that the righteousnesse of Christ our Mediator is not imputed unto us and affirmes that by Christs merits and passion we are onely freed from the guilt of our sinnes but not from the punishment of them that we our selves must satisfie the punishment She believeth also that we are able in this life if we will our selves not onely to satisfie the justice of God and keepe the Law but also to merit and doe workes of supererogation She farther believeth that if any man depart out of this life before he hath fully satisfied God for his sinnes that then he is to remaine in a place called Purgatory there to be tormented and purged from all his pollutions and defilements that there is no entrance into Heaven or redemption out of that place without an especiall indulgence from the Pope or innumerable Prayers and Masses for their soules before they by torment are cleansed from the remainder of all their sins She believeth also that life eternall is of debt due unto us as wages